Rinaldo S. Brutoco

"A leading international executive, writer, and keynote speaker for over 25 years, Rinaldo Brutoco is widely recognized as a practical visionary, change agent, and futurist. He uniquely combines theory and practice to assist executives and organizations in adapting to change with breakthrough ideas.

"Rinaldo is the President of the World Business Academy, which he founded in 1987 to educate, inspire, and assist business leaders to take responsibility for the whole of society. The Academy is a pre-eminent publisher of new paradigm business literature.

"An expert in emerging technologies and industries, Rinaldo was a Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of the nation's first pay cable television operation, CHANNEL 100, the pay-cable division of Optical Systems Corporation. He was also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of one of the first companies to offer over-the-air television transmissions of major motion pictures, Universal Subscription Television.  While CEO at Universal Subscription Television, Rinaldo oversaw an equity infusion of $30 million, launching broadcast television operations in Boston, New York, San Francisco and other major markets, achieving gross annualized revenues of $35 million in its first three years.  For 13 years, he also served as the Chairman of Logical Data Management, which pioneered distributed data processing and high-speed data transfers.

"Rinaldo has served on the board of The Men's Wearhouse, a $2-billion-dollar retail sales New York Stock Exchange company, for over 18 years from its initial IPO to the present. During that same time period, he was CEO and Chairman of the Red Rose Collection, which was named for three consecutive years to Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing privately held companies.  Among its many other distinctions, Red Rose served for the last twelve years of Mother Teresa's life as the sole distributor of her personally endorsed biographical motion picture.

"Savvy in both legal and financial transactions, Rinaldo pioneered the concept of Direct Public Offering of stock by selling shares of stock directly to his customers. He also achieved significant legal prominence when, at the age of 25, he became the youngest attorney to argue before the California Supreme Court and won what at the time was the largest class action lawsuit in the history of the United States.

"Rinaldo’s ability to transform companies through a multi-disciplinary approach has been enhanced by his service on numerous non-profit boards, including The Gorbachev Foundation, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, State of the World Forum, the Center for Earth Concerns, Omega Point Institute, the National Peace Alliance, the National Peace Academy, and the Brutoco Family Foundation. For a number of years, he also served as Chairman of the Ojai Film Festival.

"He is the co-author of Freedom From Mid-East Oil (2007) and a college textbook on nuclear energy, Profiles in Power: The Anti-Nuclear Movement and the Dawn of the Solar Age (Simon & Schuster 1997). He has been the contributor to, or principal author resource for, several other books including Winning the Innovation Game and New Paradigms in Business, and is the author of many articles.

"On moving to Ojai, California, Rinaldo formed The ShangriLa Group, a consulting firm and commercial group of companies with numerous investments in various enterprises. He continues to serve as its Principal and CEO, and consults on the leading edge of business, renewable energy, international micro and macroeconomics, technology, and finance, among other things.

"Rinaldo obtained a degree with highest honors in Economics and Philosophy in 1968 from Santa Clara University and a Juris Doctorate, Order of the Coif, from UCLA School of Law in 1971."


 * Founder and President, World Business Academy
 * Director, Peace Alliance Foundation
 * Advisory Board, Truthout
 * Advisory Board, Meditation Mount, Ojai